You make some good points. I’ve had some bad experiences with pastors living above the average persons in their town and I just believe that’s wrong.
They were able to go on nice vacations and put back for retirement when the average person in the church couldn’t do either because they were giving 10% of their gross income, giving to missions and every other thing that had to do with the building programs and the such.
Were their needs met? Of course, because they worked 50-60 hours a week and didn’t have the house that the pastor and his family lived in.
Are there churches that do not operate this way? I don’t know, I haven’t walked into one that doesn’t.
I’m not bitter I’m not angry as some would say. At this point in my life I’m just scratching my head and saying….hold up, wait a minute, are y’all seeing what I’m seeing here